Sometimes damage control can be as much as buying the distribution rights to a film. This almost seems the case with The Weinstein Co.'s picking up of Todd Haynes' arty Bob Dylan biopic, I'm Not There. But could it actually make Bob Dylan more upset?

The singer-songwriter is already portrayed in one upcoming movie distributed by the Weinsteins -- whether or not anybody involved with Factory Girl admits that Hayden Christensen plays Dylan, the consensus is that it is obviously him. Now, he's going to be portrayed by six more people, including Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger. This second film, which has Dylan's approval, will be released by The Weinstein Co. sometime later this year.

Dylan is currently unhappy with the Weinsteins because of Factory Girl, which he has only heard may be defamatory to his character. It doesn't seem likely that he could reverse his feelings now that I'm Not There is in the enemy's clutches. Do Bob and Harvey think the deal will please Dylan, or do they mean to use it as leeway in any legal issue brought on by Dylan? Or could this be totally unrelated to the Factory Girl controversy?

2006 was the first full year of Cinematical, and it was a very busy year for its bloggers. A lot of big news, shocking news and ongoing news kept us busy as we followed the important stories and passed the significant bits onto you. There was good news, bad news, unexpected news and unbelievable news. There were deaths, births, rebirths and remakes. There was so much going on that it takes an amazing film geek to recall everything (have you tested your memory yet?).

But what was the most important story for film in 2006? The end of the box office slump? The Weinsteins' devilish pact with Blockbuster? Peter Jackson's possibilities of directing The Hobbit? Uwe Boll boxing his critics? Sorry, but none of those affected the consciousness of cinema as much as these other stories from the past 12 months:

• Disney Buys Pixar - When 2006 began, the future of Disney's relationship with Pixar was still uncertain. There had been hint of a new deal between the two companies in the last few days of 2005, but nothing was concrete. Three weeks went by, in which time the new year came in and Pixar's stock prices went up, and then finally the first installment of news came through on January 19: Disney would buy Pixar. Three days later, we were reminded that the deal was not yet done, that it was still awaiting approval from Steve Jobs and the rest of the animation studio's board. On January 23, however, it was in the bag: Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion. And John Lasseter was named head of Disney animation.
  
  The story didn't end there. Throughout 2006, the effects of the acquisition continued to be felt. First, Toy Story 3 was killed. But then it was greenlit again. Disney closed its new computer animation studio, Circle 7. Then many months went by before Disney fired a whole lot of people working in its animation departments. Finally, just a few weeks ago, the company announced they'd be trying out the ol' hand-drawn stuff again. By year's end, it felt as though Pixar was the one who owned Disney.
  

Back when the Weinstein brothers were still the "Kings" of Miramax, they garnered the reputation of being able to pick some of the most successful foreign films for North American distribution. As a result, they managed to subsequently release some of the most successful foreign films of the last decade, including Life is Beautiful and Princess Mononoke. They might not be making deals for Miramax anymore, but The Weinstein Co. is sticking to the tradition of bringing international films to domestic audiences.

The Hollywood Reporter announced that TWC have bought the Japanese thriller Nightmare Detective for US and UK distribution. Nightmare Detective was written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, and stars Ryuhei Matsuda and Japanese Pop singer hitomi. The story centers on a female detective investigating two seemingly unrelated suicides. The spooky factor kicks in when there is one strange detail both deaths have in common -- and that's that the victims each dialed 0 on their cell phones moments before their death.

A deal was struck between Easternlight Films and TWC (who have had a long-standing relationship with each other), and negotiations started not long after the film screened at the Rome film festival. The film hasn't even opened in Japan yet, but is slated for a January release. No word yet on when the US release date will be, but I doubt TWC will waste much time.

[via ComingSoon.net]

Well, it looks like no matter how hard we try, we just can't escape Factory Girl. My personal interest in this movie has been waning for a while now, and the trailer didn't exactly inspire confidence. There has been word of re-shoots, and now entirely new scenes are being added. None of which is a particularly good sign, but Harvey Weinstein refuses to say die when it comes to this Warhol-era biopic.

A report from Radar, has Weinstein making the rounds to make sure that the Academy doesn't forget about Factory Girl when it comes time to hand out the nominations. Weinstein has taken out "For Your Consideration" ads in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. It seems a little premature considering that the film hasn't even finished shooting in New York, and the deadline for Oscar consideration is fast approaching. A spokesperson for Weinstein defended the move, saying that critics had "seen an early cut of the movie and given it high praise, especially Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce's performances. We don't think it's premature to start promoting the film for awards consideration." Which I can't help but think translates into sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "la-la-la I can't hear you". I guess we will see who gets the last laugh when the film opens this December. ...


[ via Hollywood Elsewhere ]

It's been a while since we've had some news on My Blueberry Nights, so let's catch up: Martha Fischer started reporting about the film when it was announced, and then told us about the pic's growing cast. To review, Blueberry Nights is the new, and first English feature, of writer-director Wong Kar-wai. The film is a road trip love story that centers on a woman, played by first-time actress Norah Jones, as she travels across America meeting strange, new people. It is also based on a short film about a shopkeeper who falls for a blueberry pie fiend. Also making an appearance in the flick are Rachel Weisz, Jude Law (pictures of him in the film are now on imdb), and Natalie Portman.

Filming is now completed, and David Strathairn and Tim Roth were also added to the cast. There was some rumor that Ed Harris would be in that list, but no reports seem to confirm it. I would imagine that it never came to be if he wasn't mentioned in the new Hollywood Reporter blurb, which has announced that those Weinstein boys have picked up the rights to the movie.

These days, you can't throw a stick without hitting a Weinstein. However, every time I hear the name, I can't help but think of that Kevin Smith story about Harvey walking out of Clerks. Yet the Weinsteins acquiring My Blueberry Nights makes sense. Wong sees Harvey as an old friend, and sites him as having a "key role" in introducing Chungking Express to the US. The brotherly duo may have split from Disney/Miramax, but they still have one hell of a little black book.

Since it looks like we are going to have to wait awhile for the animation avalanche to end any time soon; it's as good a time as any to bring back the animated musical. Movies like Happy Feet might already be on the way to a revival, but the genre hasn't had much interest since the Disney renaissance of the '90's. Pixar might have won the war when it came narrative versus musical animation, but The Weinstein Company isn't willing to walk away from the fight just yet.

The Hollywood Reporter announced that The Weinstein Company has purchased North American rights for the French animated property Piccolo, Saxo, and Company. The story follows a group of instruments that decide to form their own symphony orchestra. The story seems a little abstract for a kids movie, but maybe French kids are into abstraction. An obscure album by "Space-age pop" musician André Popp titled Les Aventures de Piccolo Saxo served as the inspiration for the film. Popp was known for his experimental recording techniques, and had a few hit songs during the 1960's.

The film goes into its European release next month, and The Weinstein Company is already planning the English language version with new actors. It looks like the Weinstein's are keeping their options open though, as they have yet to commit to a theatrical release and no casting decisions have been made.

Last week, there was a lot of controversy surrounding the announcement that Harvey and Bob Weinstein are producing a gala event to honor Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr. After all, the Weinsteins are known for their support of the Democratic party and for their distributing liberal-sided docs like Fahrenheit 9/11 and the new Barbara Kopple film Shut Up & Sing. So, what are they doing hobnobbing with the enemy of their friends? The official reason is that the Weinsteins support Scott's new efforts to sustain environmental friendliness, but a number of people are pointing out other reasons the brothers might desire a good relationship with the retail company.

Radar has a report on some of these reasons, which include the Weinsteins' hopes for priority placement in Wal-Mart's stores and their need for Wal-Mart to go easier on movies depicting sex and drugs. Variety more specifically addressed the Weinsteins' recent control of Genius Products, which will be making straight-to-video, family-friendly films that cater well to Wal-Mart's demographic. Wake-Up Wal-Mart has gone so far as to write a letter of disapproval to the Weinsteins.

So, now what happens when Michael Moore, who is already a critic of Wal-Mart, decides his next activist doc is against the stores? Will the Weinsteins still support their golden boy?

In related news, SpielbergFilms.net is pointing out that Wal-Mart is now selling Poltergeist on DVD for less than $5. It's things like this that make it hard for moviefans to keep up a hatred for the stores, but I think we can all hold out for next year's 25th Anniversary edition, right?

Actor/director George Clooney was "toasted by a host of fellow stars" at a lavish benefit held last Friday for American Cinematheque, a not-for-profit organization in Los Angeles that, since 1981, has supported film -- the kind of film not always available to a wide audience. American Cinematheque brings audiences a truly impressive array of film from a wide variety of cinematic niches, nooks and crannies. A peek at their calendar reveals such delectable and diverse events as "New Argentine Cinema," "Russian Fantastique Cinema, "Cinema Italian Style," "An Evening with Christopher Nolan," a screening of Al Jolson's 1936 film The Singing Kid, and a Halloween screening of a 70mm print of Ghostbusters! And that's just in October.

Since 1986, American Cinematheque has held a fundraiser at which it honors "an extraordinary artist (actor, director or writer) in the entertainment industry, who is fully engaged in his or her work and is committed to making a significant contribution to the art of the motion picture." The first honoree was Eddie Murphy; subsequent artists honored by American Cinematheque are: Bette Midler (1987); Robin Williams (1988); Steven Spielberg (1989); Ron Howard (1990); Martin Scorsese (1991); Sean Connery (1992); Michael Douglas (1993); Rob Reiner (1994); Mel Gibson (1995); Tom Cruise (1996); John Travolta (1997); Arnold Schwarzenegger (1998); Jodie Foster (1999); Bruce Willis (2000); Nicolas Cage (2001); Denzel Washington (2002); Nicole Kidman (2003), Steve Martin (2004) and Al Pacino (2005).

Benefit co-chairs included Matt Damon, Ethan and Joel Coen, Sydney Pollack, Steven Spielberg and the Weinsteins (although I kinda doubt that in this case the co-chairs were spiking the fruit punch and scotch-taping crepe paper streamers to the rafters of the high school gym, which is the visual that phrases like "benefit co-chairs" bring to my mind), and ticket prices ran $550 a pop. With 1,200 or so stars expected to be in attendance at the time of the press release, the event is American Cinematheque's primary fundraiser, supporting maintenance of the org's two theaters, The Egyptian and The Aero, as well as funding programming throughout the year.

It's great to see the stars come out to support the kinds of films most people will only get to see if they attend film school or go to a lot of film festivals; American Cinematheque, like Film Forum in New York City and Northwest Film Forum here in Seattle, makes it possible for the average cinephile to have access to some amazing films, both new and old. Cinematical recently brought on board two LA-based writers, so look for us to start covering American Cinematheque events along with our Film Forum and Northwest Film Forum coverage, fellow film buffs.

Ever since the Dixie Chicks went off on George W. Bush at a concert in the UK back in 2003, the musical trio have been almost as well known for their politics as for their music. Country music fans, who tend as a group to lean to the right side of the political aisle, took great umbrage to the Chicks making their opinion on the president -- is is from their home state of Texas -- be known to the world. In Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, directors Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck take a look at the fallout of the Chicks refusal to shut up: The radio stations refusing to play their music, the right-wing bloggers urging fans to boycott them, the letters from fans, one of which inspired both a Dixie Chicks song and the title of this documentary, by telling the women to just "shut up and sing." Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck sat down with Cinematical's James Rocchi and Netscape's Alexia Prichard to discuss their controversial film. You can download the video here (60.9MB, 9: or watch it over on Netscape.

Earlier today, I was catching up on my newsfeeds and read Matt Dentler's description of the Saturday night Toronto premiere of the teen horror film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, the audience for was chock-full of distributors. Sure enough -- not two hours later, I learned that Dimension Films, the genre arm of The Weinstein Company, acquired the film for worldwide distribution. After hearing Dentler describe the film as a slasher flick with "more than enough humor and originality in the film to keep it interesting," I'm looking forward to the opportunity to see it. (Especially since IMDb says that Texas musician Robert Earl Keen has a role.)

The Weinstein Company also bought the distribution rights to Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show, which premiered at TIFF on Friday. The title evokes all kinds of bizarre possibilities, but it turns out to be a documentary about comedians (including Vince Vaughn) travelling across the U.S. on a series of stand-up comedy evenings. I didn't recognize the other comedians' names, but the "guest stars" include Peter Billingsley, whom I haven't seen onscreen since his child-actor days, and Justin Long, whom I recently saw briefly in Idiocracy.

Odds and ends from Friday and the weekend:

• In finalizing the cast for his part of Grind House (titled Death Proof), Quentin Tarantino has brought on Michael Bacall, newcomer Omar Doom and Eli Roth. Labeled a "slasher flick" and currently shooting in Austin, the three will star alongside Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson and Rose McGowan, among others. Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror wrapped its production recently and Grind House (as a whole) is expected to invade theaters on April 6, 2007.
• 20th Century Fox has gone ahead and snatched up Adam Sztykiel's spec script Matchbreaker, with Shawn Levy to produce the comedy through his 21 Laps Entertainment. Though the plot is being kept a secret for now, it's vaguely being described as a "high-concept comedy about two guys and a girl set against a vibrant cultural backdrop, which we haven't seen in a movie before."
• Looking to add a bit more funny to their repertoire, the Weinstein Co. has signed a one-year, first-look deal with Underground Films and acquired the comedy pitch Rising Son for Underground to produce. Pic revolves around a "young American who proposes to his Japanese-American girlfriend just as they are traveling to visit her estranged family." While there, he must compete in a bunch of challenges in order to win the respect of his future father-in-law, a la Meet The Parents.

I couldn't wait to read Peter Biskind's Down & Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and The Rise of Independent Film when it first hit the bookstore shelves -- but I was at Sundance at the time and (curiously enough) you couldn't find a copy of the thing anywhere up there! I knew going into the book -- which includes some pretty scathing swipes at both Miramax overlord Harvey Weinstein and Sundance cowboy Robert Redford -- would be half true and half sensationalistic-ish ... but obviously I'd never be able to tell the one from the other. Overall it's a very fun read if you're a diehard movie geek, but doesn't come close to the author's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, which is one of my very favorite books.

So get this: Much like someone (Richard Linklater, actually) took Eric Schlosser's non-fiction tome Fast Food Nation and turned it into a "traditional" movie, director Ken Bowser (he directed the excellent doco based on ERRB) and screenwriter Dean Craig have acquired the right to turn Biskind's book into a narrative feature. How one would turn a collection of Indie Hollywood's war stories into a three-act piece of amusing fiction remains to be seen -- but I know it's a movie that I'll want to see!

Unlike myself, Mr. Bowser has no problems at all seeing Down & Dirty Pictures as a straight comedy: "You couldn't make these guys up. They're like offensive linemen rampaging across the fields of Sundance sacking anyone who gets in their way, while the handsome movie star owner of the stadium smiles benevolently down on his charges. If that's not a movie, I don't know what is." Ha! Something tells me that The Weinstein Co. won't be picking this flick up for distribution -- nor will it be playing at Sundance anytime soon.

Time to check in with some film blogs:

• Nistagmus, submitted to me a while back, is based in Argentina. Unfortunately for those of you who don't speak Spanish, that's the language it's in. It's a nicely-designed site, and co-administrator of the site, Martin, who submitted it to me, describes it thusly: "We just blog about the kind of movies we love, and we love "geek" films. I mean, is it a strip/cartoon/graphic novel/comic book based feature? Is an asian pop-culture weird film? It´s a 20k slacker garage film? It is a surprisingly buzzy indie horror film from middle east? We may be interested... It´s the next Brangelina of J-Lo Housewives-targeted flop? We probably don´t want to hear about it... Well I think you get the point.". I can muddle my way through just enough Spanish to figure out that if I was really fluent in Spanish, this site would be a regular read. You folks out there who do speak the language, check it out.
• Over in England, Matt Grover runs The Matte Reviews, "Film reviews by Englishmen who watch films (if only we'd get paid for it!)." Most recently, Matt has written up reviews (from a "regular guy" viewpoint, not a film critic one) on Japanese flick Haze ("I just didn't know what was going on by the end"), Spielberg's Munich ("ok, film, long but good performances and some good sequences"), and a low-budget UK flick called Crooked Features (which he highly recommends). Nice versatility -- if you want a Brit point of view on film, this is a good site to peruse.

Those clever little (actually, they're not so little) Weinstein boys are hoping to turn political controversy into box office gold, as they've gone and picked up the worldwide distribution rights for the documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing. Directed by Barbara Kopple (who also helmed the Oscar-winning strike doc Harlan County, U.S.A.) and produced by Cecilia Peck and Kopple, pic follows the singing group around, while documenting the aftermath of Natalie Maines' heavily publicized anti-Bush comments.

Now, I'm far from a rabid Dixie Chicks fan, but I was certainly surprised to see how hated these girls became after Maines simply stated that she was ashamed President Bush was from Texas. I mean, we're talking radio boycotts and death threats -- all because she decided to speak her mind and be truthful? Not surprisingly, the Weinsteins are looking to shove the film into theaters this November, right in time for elections. Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing will officially debut in a Gala Presentation next month at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Over at Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeffrey Wells (and, it must be said, at least one other critic, whom he quotes) is finding himself very impressed by George Hickenlooper's Factory Girl, the Edie Sedgwick biopic that may or may not be coming out at the end of the year. More specifically, Wells is blown away by the performance of Sienna Miller in the lead role and, assuming the Weinsteins get it on some screens in time to qualify, he's expecting her to get an Oscar nod, alongside such grand dames as Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) and Helen Mirren (The Queen). According to Wells' post, Miller "gets [Sedwick's] fluttery debutante laugh, that mixture of Warholian cool and little-girl terror, the giddy euphoria, the cracked voice. It's more than convincing -- it's a kind of rebirthing."

Um, wow. And hooray! I know essentially nothing about Sedgwick, but I've adored Miller since she lit up the small screen in the under-seen (and under-rated) Keen Eddie, and would love to see her get some credibility -- particularly given the fact that she been turned into something of a joke by the tabloids (as well as evil bloggers like ourselves).